A Knowledge of First Principles
[
The Health Reformer, August, 1866
, Vol. 1, no. 1.]
Many have inquired of me, “What course shall I take to best pre-
serve my health?” My answer is, Cease to transgress the laws of your
being; cease to gratify a depraved appetite; eat simple food; dress
healthfully, which will require modest simplicity; work healthfully;
and you will not be sick.
It is a sin to be sick, for all sickness is the result of transgression.
Many are suffering in consequence of the transgression of their parents.
They cannot be censured for their parents’ sin; but it is nevertheless
their duty to ascertain wherein their parents violated the laws of their
being, which has entailed upon their offspring so miserable an in-
heritance; and wherein their parents’ habits were wrong, they should
change their course, and place themselves by correct habits in a better
relation to health.
Men and women should inform themselves in regard to the phi-
losophy of health. The minds of rational beings seem shrouded in
darkness in regard to their own physical structure, and how to preserve
it in a healthy condition. The present generation have trusted their
bodies with the doctors and their souls with the ministers. Do they not
pay the minister well for studying the Bible for them, that they need
not be to the trouble? and is it not his business to tell them what they
must believe, and to settle all doubtful questions of theology without
special investigation on their part? If they are sick, they send for the
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doctor—believe whatever he may tell, and swallow anything he may
prescribe; for do they not pay him a liberal fee, and is it not his busi-
ness to understand their physical ailments, and what to prescribe to
make them well, without their being troubled with the matter? ...
So closely is health related to our happiness, that we cannot have
the latter without the former. A practical knowledge of the science
of human life is necessary in order to glorify God in our bodies. It is
therefore of the highest importance that among the studies selected for
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